1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to dispensers for bottled water and particularly concerns seal-piercing devices situated in or on the dispenser for piercing a pliable neck seal on a bottle.
2. Description of Related Art
Bottled drinking water dispensers in which a filled water bottle is inverted upon a water-filled dispenser vessel have been in use for many years. In these gravity-operated dispensers, water flows from the inverted bottle into the dispenser vessel until the water level in the dispenser vessel rises to a point slightly above the neck of the bottle or of the inlet port of a coupling device interposed between the bottle and the vessel. Once the water level has reached this level, air can no longer flow into the bottle to displace water, and the water level in the bottle stays constant until water is drawn from the dispenser vessel via a conventional tap, faucet, or other means. The act of drawing off water from the vessel lowers the water level and allows air to enter the bottle so that additional water can flow out of it into the vessel.
Inserting a filled bottle into a receiving port of a dispenser is usually done by opening the bottle, quickly inverting it and inserting it into the port before too much water spills out. This is a sloppy and sometimes unhygienic procedure that can wash dirt from the neck of the bottle or from the top of the dispenser into the dispensing vessel. In the interest of making the refilling operation easier and more hygienic, prior inventors have proposed a variety of devices positionable within a dispenser receiving port and acting to open a sealed water bottle inserted thereinto. Similar devices for opening sealed liquid-containing receptacles and dispensing the liquid therefrom have been proposed for other applications, such as dispensing motor oil from a can into an engine.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,236 Deruntz teaches a seal-piercing dispenser insert comprising a cruciform penetrating and spreading element having two knife-edged blades lying in a first plane and two dull spreader blades lying in a second plane perpendicular to the first plane. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,236 is herein incorporated by reference. When an industry-standard water bottle (which has a flexible polymeric seal closing the mouth of the bottle independent of the bottle's orientation) is inverted and inserted into a receiving port of a water dispenser equipped with Deruntz's insert, the two knife edges slice open the seal and the two spreader edges hold the slit open against elastic restoring forces from the substantially deformed plastic cap as shown in FIG. 3 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,236. When a conventional light-weight plastic bottle opened with Deruntz's insert is nearly drained and the weight of water holding the bottle on the insert is reduced, the elastic restoring forces acting to close the slit can cause the bottle to rise upwards off the insert into a relatively unstable position in which an accidental blow can knock the bottle off the dispenser and spill its remaining contents.
In an earlier US design patent (U.S. Pat. No. Des. 277,255), Deruntz disclosed a cap-piercing water dispenser insert comprising a bent-pyramidal array of blades extending upward from a base of the insert. Each of the plurality of blades has a knife edge cutting into the bottle cap. As described by Deruntz in his later U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,236, the plastic flaps formed by the cutting operation of the U.S. Pat. No. Des. 277,255 device are forced into the flow path of water being discharged from the bottle by forces arising both from the flowing water and from the elastic properties of the flap.
Another bottle-unsealing means comprising a valved assembly inserted into the water-receiving port of a water dispenser is sold by Ebtech Inc. as the Ebco Waterguard.RTM.. This device comprises a blunt-nosed seal-penetrating portion of the valved assembly cooperating with a special bottle seal having a centrally disposed push-on cap. When a bottle having the appropriate seal is inverted upon the cooperating valved assembly, the seal penetrating portion pushes the small central cap off its mounting and introduces a flow inlet into the bottle. On removal of the water bottle, the small cap (which is retained on the tip of the blunt-nosed penetrator) is reseated on the stationary portion of the lid to re-seal the bottle. The complex, multi-element Ebco apparatus comprises a plurality of small passages that are difficult to clean.
Kader et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 2,806,635, teach apparatus for piercing the seal of a liquid receptacle. Their pyramid-shaped piercer comprises a plurality of knife edges extending outward at an acute angle from a longitudinal axis, all the faces of the pyramid so formed being open to fluid flow.
Reynolds, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,107,818, discloses piercing apparatus having a spreader, or deflector bar, extending outward from a surface of a knife-edged piercing member, the deflector bar preventing a cut flap from moving into and impeding flow through a hole cut by the knife edge.
Nall, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,002,611, discloses piercing apparatus for opening a liquid receptacle. Nall's apparatus comprises a plurality of knife-edged members disposed in a pyramidal array with an interleaved pyramidal array of spreader edges serving to spread and hold open the punctured and broken wall portions of a seal.
Christian, in U.S. Pat. No. 1,028,542, teaches a receptacle-piercing device providing separate flow paths for the liquid delivered from the receptacle and for the air flowing into the receptacle to displace the liquid.